Guyana’s Ministry of Labour launches $23.7 Million Unity Skill Development Project

Georgetown, Guyana: Ministry of Labour of Guyana announced that the residents of Unity and surrounding communities of East Coast Demerara will soon benefit from the rehabilitation of the Unity Learning and Resource Centre and the construction of a cutting-edge Welding and Fabrication facility following a $23.7 million contract signing on the morning of August 7, 2023.

According to the update, the facility will be built in accordance with the Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQs) standards and is expected to be completed before year-end.

The Ministry of Labour inked this life-changing contract with the Perba Trading and Construction for the Board of Industrial Training to boost its efforts to equip citizens with the skills needed to sustain a livelihood.

Additionally, it informed that it also aligns with the Government’s manifesto of providing technical and vocational training programmes to fulfil the country’s skilled labour need, particularly in the Oil and Gas sector.

Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Labour, Bishram Kuppen, Permanent Secretary, Denise Sealey, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BIT, Saskia Eastman-Onwuzirike, and other officials were present.

Along with this, the Ministry also informed that the Interim Management Committee of the New Highway Producers Cooperative Society has been formally extended by the Ministry of Labour today until November 2023.

The four-month extension is part of a COOP department mandate to allow the IMC to put in place processes that would allow the Society to be audited, after which the Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held to conduct elections. This allows the Society to be passed on to its members.

Suresh Jaigobin, Assistant Chief Cooperative Development Officer, was among the attendees.